Comments on: Looking back at previous league takeovershttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/04/21/looking-back-at-previous-league-takeovers/
Baseball. Baseball. And then a bit more baseball.Fri, 09 Dec 2016 13:34:25 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: dprathttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/04/21/looking-back-at-previous-league-takeovers/#comment-131006
Fri, 22 Apr 2011 04:01:52 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=52712#comment-131006In 1982 and 1983, the Expos were fourth each year in MLB attendance. Better than the Yankees both years. Far, far better than the Red Sox both years. And about a million – yup, a million – more, each year, than the Cubs. Better than the Giants, the Braves, the Tigers, the Pirates,the Reds, the Mets, etc. etc. And better even than the World Series and pennant winners in each of those years (Cardinals and Brewers in ’82; Orioles and Phillies in ’83). And the fans showed up to support Expos teams that were third in their division both years, slightly above .500.

So obviously there was a market for baseball in Montreal. How that market was killed, who deserved the blame for it, how blame should be apportioned between MLB, the Expos ownership, and the Montreal city fathers, etc… all of that can be argued. But there is no doubt that Montreal definitely was, and with a bit of vision very well might have remained, a great home to MLB.

]]>By: mikedi33http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/04/21/looking-back-at-previous-league-takeovers/#comment-130899
Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:28:00 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=52712#comment-130899Read the article on the Expos. How did Oscar Minaya end up with the Mutts based on that track record. It seems he single handedly left both fr chisel screwed up for years
]]>By: jamie54http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/04/21/looking-back-at-previous-league-takeovers/#comment-130881
Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:00:39 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=52712#comment-130881See attendance numbers below, dummy, then check yourself. Cry all you want about having to pay in $$, go to Toronto then, I think they still have a team.
]]>By: seeingwhatstickshttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/04/21/looking-back-at-previous-league-takeovers/#comment-130868
Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:31:50 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=52712#comment-130868The Nationals have only avg more than 30k/gm once, their first year. Since that first year they’ve been under that mark and so far are under 20k/gm. I don’t know all the ins and outs of the Montreal situation but it seems to this outsider that the two biggest problems were the stadium and MLB’s lack of commitment to baseball in Montreal.
]]>By: heyblueyoustinkhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/04/21/looking-back-at-previous-league-takeovers/#comment-130856
Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:15:17 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=52712#comment-130856And somewhere……someone is crying in their Vance Law replica jersey
]]>By: gatherspeedhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/04/21/looking-back-at-previous-league-takeovers/#comment-130852
Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:03:14 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=52712#comment-130852That is 20k a game during the good years of 1992-1993. Some teams in MLB baseball would love to have that today.
]]>By: gatherspeedhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/04/21/looking-back-at-previous-league-takeovers/#comment-130851
Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:01:01 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=52712#comment-130851MLB and Bud screwed the Expos. Letting Loria take over the Marlins and buying the Expos for 180 million, then moving them and selling them for 400(?) million says it all. Who got the 220 million profit? There is a story there.

If Loria wanted out he should have found a buyer on his own. I own a business that lost money in 2007-2009, but there was nobody to buy me out. I could have closed, or sold, but instead I worked like a dog, came up with new concepts and I’m breaking even and looking good in 2011. Montreal was a strong baseball town until the mid 90s fire sale and the Loria years.

They should have done the same with the Expos. But there was no effort. The only effort was suffocating baseball in Montreal to line the pockets of MLB with wads of cash.

]]>By: bloodysockhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/04/21/looking-back-at-previous-league-takeovers/#comment-130850
Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:59:18 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=52712#comment-130850The Expos only drew more than 2 million fans in four seasons (1979-1980 and 1982-1983).

]]>By: cur68http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/04/21/looking-back-at-previous-league-takeovers/#comment-130843
Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:45:57 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=52712#comment-130843Don’t forget brockw82, the stadium was arguably unsafe for fans. Pieces of it fell were known to fall off. Lots of people stayed away because of stuff like that.

And FTR; j54 ain’t an idiot, just wants proof of statement. Which is, I think, reasonable,

]]>By: brockw82http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/04/21/looking-back-at-previous-league-takeovers/#comment-130838
Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:41:28 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=52712#comment-130838How about you are an idiot — look at their attendance before 1994, the fact that the team had to pay in American dollars (I am an American btw) with the fluctuating exchange rate, and the fact that they took the team over and scuttled any plans they had for a downtown stadium instead of the concrete monster that is Olympic Stadium.
]]>By: heyblueyoustinkhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/04/21/looking-back-at-previous-league-takeovers/#comment-130837
Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:40:06 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=52712#comment-130837Let’s see:

Make a statement like that and I say prove it. They had a competitive team year after year near the end and still no fans showed up so how is that MLB’s fault? Where’s the proof? Don’t go throwing statements out as fact without legitimate proof.